Elba Esther Gordillo Morales (b. Comitán

Comitán

Comitán is the fourth-largest city in the Mexican state of Chiapas. It is the seat of government of the municipality of the same name....

, Chiapas

Chiapas

Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...

, February 6, 1945) is a Mexican

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 politician, formerly affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party

Institutional Revolutionary Party

The Institutional Revolutionary Party is a Mexican political party that held power in the country—under a succession of names—for more than 70 years. The PRI is a member of the Socialist International, as is the rival Party of the Democratic Revolution , making Mexico one of the few...

 (PRI) until 2006. She is also a leader of the (PANAL), or Partido Nueva Alianza, and leader for life of the 1.4 million strong National Education Workers' Union (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación or SNTE).

Biography

Gordillo joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 1970 at the height of its "Dirty War

Dirty War (Mexico)

"La guerra sucia," or the dirty war, refers to an internal war between the Mexican PRI-ruled government and left-wing student and guerrilla groups in the 1960s and 1970s, largely under the presidencies of Luis Echeverría and José López Portillo...

". She has occupied several PRI positions including Secretary of Organization of the National Executive Council (1986–1987), General Secretary of the Council of National Popular Organizations (1997–2002), and General Secretary of the National Executive Council (2nd most important ranking position within the party).

Gordillo vs Madrazo

Elba Esther Gordillo was decisive in Roberto Madrazo

Roberto Madrazo

Roberto Madrazo Pintado is a Mexican politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party . He was the candidate of the alliance between his party and the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico in the 2006 Mexican presidential election.Madrazo was born in Villahermosa, Tabasco to Carlos A....

's triumph in the elections for the national presidency of the PRI held in 2000 after losing power for the first time in its history, bringing with her the backing of the powerful teachers' union.

Gordillo then became one of the most powerful women in Mexican politics

Politics of Mexico

The politics of Mexico take place in a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic whose government is based on a congressional system, whereby the president of Mexico is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system...

. She was the head of the PRI faction in the Chamber of Deputies

Chamber of Deputies of Mexico

The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Congress of the Union, Mexico's bicameral legislature. The structure and responsibilities of both chambers of Congress are defined in Articles 50 to 70 of the current constitution.-Composition:The Chamber of Deputies is composed of one federal...

, but after a political war with Madrazo she lost that position when a slim majority of 118 PRI deputies voted to oust Gordillo as head of their 224 seat faction in the lower house. Gordillo was forced out of the congress leadership presumably because her political ambitions clashed with those of Madrazo regarding the presidential elections of 2006. High political pressure and illness pushed Gordillo out from public life for about a year, although she retained her post as PRI's secretary general.

In early 2005 Gordillo returned to public life and Madrazo greeted her with open arms. According to PRI rules, Gordillo, as secretary general of the party, should have replaced Madrazo when he stepped down; but, in a surprising political move, Mariano Palacios Alcocer

Mariano Palacios Alcocer

Mariano Palacios Alcocer is a Mexican politician affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party .He is a former governor of Querétaro and has presided twice over the PRI....

 took Madrazo's position instead of Gordillo, who publicly broke with Madrazo just few days before Palacios Alcocer's election. Gordillo accused Madrazo of trying to bribe her with the party's presidency in exchange for supporting his candidacy; she also said that Madrazo had no respect for democracy and just wanted to assure himself of the nomination and was breaking party rules to impose a party leader of his own choosing.

The day that Mariano Palacios was elected, Gordillo filed a complaint with a federal electoral tribunal asking for protection of her political rights, but the tribunal ruled against her. On September 19 and as a result of the dispute with Madrazo, Gordillo resigned her Secretary General position in the PRI but decided to continue her affiliation with the party. On 13 July 2006, two weeks after the federal elections, the PRI announced her expulsion from its ranks for having supported the PAN and for attacking and slandering against the PRI's leaders and candidates.

Alliance with the PAN

Gordillo, after being ousted from the PRI, became aligned with the PAN. Her goal was to further consolidate her influence in the Mexican government. In the 2006 federal elections, along with the teachers' syndicate political machine, she helped Calderon of the PAN win the presidency by commanding as much as 4 percent of the vote. She also was successful in representing in congress her new party of the National Education Worker's Union New Alliance party (PANAL). On 13 July 2006, two weeks after the federal elections, the PRI announced her expulsion from its ranks for having supported the PAN and for attacking and slandering the PRI's leaders and candidates. Purportedly, in exchange for her support, she demanded control of a number of governmental posts, including control of the National Directorate for Public Safety, the State Workers' Pension Fund (ISSSTE), the National Lottery, and an Undersecretariat of the Department of Education.

External links

Terra: Elba Esther Gordillo. Gordillo timeline (El Universal

El Universal (Mexico City)

El Universal is a major Mexican newspaper.El Universal was founded by Félix Palavicini and Emilio Rabasa in October 1916, in the city of Santiago de Queretaro to cover the end of the Mexican Revolution and the creation of the new Mexican Constitution...

)

• Gordillo Article in the Economist (The Economist)